Psalm 94:14 “For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance” (NIV).
Observation: Psalm 94 is a plea from the oppressed of Israel to be rescued from their afflictions. There are some who take advantage of the weak; it is to God that the weak now appeal for redress.
Application: See the great confidence Israel’s afflicted have in their relationship with God? They declare themselves to be God’s inheritance. Does it seem odd that the God of all creation might have, much less desire, an inheritance?
What is an inheritance but a free gift? It is not a thing merited, like a paycheck. It is never something owed, like compensation for a hireling’s labor. It is simply largess lovingly granted, extended from the giver to a grateful recipient.
In estate planning there is something unsettling when an adult child views an inheritance as entitlement. Has the child not already received the greatest gift of all, that of life itself? To behave as though entitled to more sullies any further gift. But an inheritance freely given, a gift extended not out of a sense of grim obligation but out of the richness of relationship, such an inheritance is of surpassing value. God treasures most of all the gift I gladly give Him.
Having given me life itself, He deserves all I have. He has every right to demand my all, yet He does not. Instead, He is like the child standing on tiptoe for the best view of the passing parade. His heart is filled with eager anticipation as He contemplates with delight the possibility that I might voluntarily choose to give myself to Him.
Of course, He paid the original price to make my gift possible. Like Mr. Ringling, He owns the whole parade He so delights in watching. He thrills at the jugglers on unicycles and the sequined elephants, the caged lions and the clowns, and says in self-satisfaction, “I made all of these.” But His greatest pleasure isn’t in reflecting upon what He already owns. Instead, it is that I might willingly, gladly, make myself His, not as chattel, but as a son, as His beloved. It is in that moment that I become His inheritance, a price neither coerced nor demanded, but a gift freely given in response to all He has done for me. I then become the inheritance He will never forsake.
Prayer: Father, You see me as a gift of unsurpassed value, not because You have pressed Your claim for me, but because I gladly give myself to You. How I delight in being Your inheritance.